liard

\ljaʁ\

/\ljaʁ\/ noun

The verdict

“liard” is uncommon French (frequency #72,492 among 2,567 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,492
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ancienne monnaie française et belge en cuivre qui valait un quart de sou.

Corpus desk

Index FR-liard · liard · French

liard · rank #72,492 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,492
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH libelle

Nearest frequency peer: libelle (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « liard »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « liard » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for liard
PropertyValue
Headwordliard
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ljaʁ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#72,492
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « liard » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.liardtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « libelle » (#72,493), « lessons » (#72,490), « libidineux » (#72,494). Parmi 2,567 lemmes en « L », « liard » est au #72,492. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

liard is uncommon French at frequency #72,492 among 2,567 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ljaʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for liard in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is liard, spelled L-I-A-R-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ancienne monnaie française et belge en cuivre qui valait un quart de sou.
  2. 2
    Monnaie quelconque, de faible valeur.
  3. 3
    Rondelle.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how liard appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. De fait, nous n’avions pas le sou ; nos poches et nos tiroirs fouillés et renversés sur la table, tout compté et recompté, liards, centimes, monnaie de billon et pièces d'argent, – sur dix que nous étions, – nous nous trouvâmes riches d'à peu près quarante francs... Bon Dieu ! quarante francs, pour dix !
  2. Vous êtes un homme dangereux, seigneur Grand-Eunuque. Utile mais dangereux. Si les destinées vous avaient mis à ma place, je ne donnerais pas un rouge liard du bonheur de mon propre peuple.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "liard"?
"liard" is spelled L-I-A-R-D. The IPA pronunciation is \ljaʁ\.
What does "liard" mean?
As a noun, "liard" means: Ancienne monnaie française et belge en cuivre qui valait un quart de sou.
How do you pronounce "liard"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "liard" is \ljaʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "liard" come from?
"liard" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "liard", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list